Last month, NATO leaders held a successful summit in Chicago at which they charted the future course of the alliance in Afghanistan, bolstered NATO’s partnerships with nations across the globe and made a commitment to ensure that the alliance will have the capabilities to meet the security challenges of today and tomorrow.

The alliance made many critical decisions in Chicago; one of the most important was the declaration of an interim NATO ballistic missile-defense capability — the first concrete step to defending NATO European territory, its population and forces against the growing threat of ballistic missile attack. Today, NATO has the ability to defend parts of southern Europe against a limited attack, a capability that will gradually expand so that all of NATO Europe will be protected by the end of this decade.… Seguir leyendo »

Monday, Oct. 31st, seven months after it started, NATO’s operation in Libya will come to an end. It is the first time NATO has ended an operation it started. And it comes on the heels of an historic victory for the people of Libya who, with NATO’s help, transformed their country from an international pariah into a nation with the potential to become a productive partner with the West.

Seven months ago, the Libyan people were under threat and attack by the armed gangs commanded by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the strongman who had brutally ruled Libya for 42 years. Within 10 days of the U.N.… Seguir leyendo »

Has the Atlantic alliance outlived its usefulness? The British journalist and historian Geoffrey Wheatcroft raised that question in an opinion article on Thursday, commenting on the speech by Robert Gates in Brussels last week in which the outgoing U.S. defense secretary accused other members of the Atlantic alliance of not pulling their financial and political weight. Ivo H. Daalder, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO, joins the debate.

“Who needs NATO?” asks Geoffrey Wheatcroft. A good question, with a simple answer: We all do.

NATO is, as President Obama has said, “the most successful alliance in human history.” During its first 40 years, it won the Cold War.… Seguir leyendo »

When the 28 NATO allies gather in Lisbon on Friday, one of the most important issues on the agenda will be how to address a real and growing danger to the trans-Atlantic region: the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

Today, NATO confronts a security environment like no other in its history. The threat of major conventional conflict in Europe — the worry at NATO’s founding — has virtually vanished.

The agenda of the 1990s — extending the principles of democracy, individual liberty and rule of law to the whole of Europe — is far from finished, but on track.… Seguir leyendo »

Thousands of miles from the “capital of Europe,” NATO and E.U. forces work side by side to achieve common security objectives. Yet we rarely bridge the four miles between the two headquarters in Brussels, and as a result our efforts are far less effective than they can and should be.

In Afghanistan, NATO and the European Union share the same goal — enhancing the Afghan government’s capacity to provide stability, security and good governance for its people and eliminate the extremist threat. Off the coast of Somalia, NATO and E.U. ships plow the same seas — countering the pestilence of piracy.… Seguir leyendo »

When it comes to engaging Iran — a signature theme of his foreign policy — Barack Obama is taking his share of criticism. Republican rival John McCain predictably denounces Obama’s call for direct talks with Iran, while his foreign policy aide Randy Scheunemann labels that approach nothing less than «unilateral cowboy summitry.»

More surprisingly, some Europeans also seem wary of Obama’s proposed change in U.S. policy. They argue that the international community must not abandon its official line that no negotiations with Iran may take place unless Tehran suspends its uranium enrichment program. This month unnamed European officials told The Post’s Glenn Kessler that they «feel strongly about continuing on the current path,» and one French analyst even accused Obama of unilaterally «dropping Security Council conditions.»… Seguir leyendo »